Chapter 2

Technically, the company was not the place she met Marie for the first time.

It was during one of her part time jobs, four years ago, exactly three months before she joined the company.

She rejected Marie's offer... on sleeping with her.

On that fateful day, specifically at night time, Claire was tasked to deliver a food order that she assumed was for a group of people. Not that it was any of her business.

Coincidentally, it was Marie, who she didn't know at that time. Eyes full of tears and a face filled with devastation was what described Marie's appearance when she opened the door to her home the first time they met. Although it was her job to just deliver the food, Claire got concerned with her condition.

She did not look okay at all. She looked like a complete wreck.

"Are you alright, Ma'am?", she could not help but ask.

On the floor, were bottles of alcohol and containers of take out food. The place was a mess like a typhoon hit the person's living room.

"It's none of your business."

Marie glared at her and took the food order forcibly. Shutting her mouth, Claire just waited for the woman's payment. Alas, the woman decided to dig in first like she was in a hurry and forgot to hand the payment to her.

"Ma'am, your payment...I–"

"Cough* Cough* Wat– *Cough"

Marie started choking on the food which threw Claire into a panic. She immediately dashed towards the kitchen of Marie's apartment and searched for a glass of water. Luckily she found a bottle of water in the refrigerator and gave it to Marie quickly for her to drink.

Gasping for air, Marie's face started to relax and go back to its original complexion.

The atmosphere became awkward as the woman settled down. Claire felt very out of place because of it.

"I'm sorry for intruding, Ma'am.", Claire said as she realized her intrusion.

Heat rose to Marie's cheek as she noticed how humiliating that was. More than that, she was taken aback. This was the first time someone was so polite and nice to her. Even helping her when she almost choked to death, the first thing this person did was apologize to her for going inside her house which was necessary.

Her eyes darted towards the source of the soft voice.

Now that she took a good look at him...

A slim boy wearing a helmet that was open, enough for one to see a glimpse of his face, was standing in front of her. His facial features weren't fully revealed but one could see how beautiful the boy was. He wasn't very tall for a man but he was still taller than her. His height is probably around 170 cm. His skin was fair and smooth. He was a young man with short black hair almost covering his eyes.

He was a cute boy.

The tinge on her cheeks became a few shades darker. She shouldn't feel this way about a guy younger than her. It sounded immoral especially since she just divorced her husband.

Seeing the frozen look on Marie's face, Claire grew more concerned.

'I wonder if she's okay.'

She wanted to ask her one more time but she quickly took note of how the woman shut her up earlier.

'But the payment?... This is troublesome... Why is she staring at me? Did she perhaps have a stroke? Should I just ask her the money and leave? She doesn't look okay though... I'm not really in a rush so I think I can wait since this is my last order. I can just explain to the boss that I encountered a mishap on the job.'

Claire cleared her throat and felt awkward.

Marie got a hold of herself and felt embarrassed. Why was she ogling at a delivery man?! A young, handsome and... poor delivery man.

Slightly drunk and disoriented, a daring thought passed her mind.

'I don't think this young man will refuse if I pay him for the night. I mean I'm already very frustrated and need to let off some steam. I think he will accept my offer since he's in need of money. Aren't all poor people like that? Desperate to do anything for a penny.'

Thinking that she was right, she quickly fished out her wallet from her pocket and took a few bills to pay for the order. Claire was relieved that the customer decided to pay-up and took the money. She was about to leave when she felt a heavy weight pressing on her back.

"Ma'am, What–"

Marie's arm started to coil around Claire's body like a snake.

"Don't leave. I want you to stay with me tonight." she said in a disgusting tone.

Claire's body turned to stone.

'What the–'

"Ma'am, I think you're mistaken I'm not–"she said as she tried to take the witches grasps off of her.

But Marie was persistent...

"Come on, you've probably done this before. It's just one night... I promise to pay you a lot."

Claire felt chills down her spine. She could not stomach the disgust she felt at that moment. Realizing that the woman was going too far, she forcefully removed the woman's arms and pushed her to the floor. Running as fast as she could towards the door, she heard the woman's scream of pain probably because of how strong she was pushed.

Not really caring about the woman anymore, she rode her motorcycle away from the woman's apartment hoping to never see her again.

However, as fate wanted them to meet so badly, they met at a common workplace a few months later where the latter was her superior.

She recalled the anger and humiliation on Marie's face when she started working there and how much rage the woman had when she learned that Claire was a girl.

Ever since then, the mistreatment started and it continued up to this point in time...